Lebanon-based behavioral health facility Ameri-Kare and its CEO Janie Ganaway have agreed to pay the state $86,595.96 to settle claims that they violated the Tennessee Medicaid False Claims Act. Per the settlement agreement, the state alleges Ameri-Kare submitted false claims for payment for TennCare members, false claims for TennCare services provided by a physician no longer employed by the facility and altered records to conceal wrongdoing. Read the full settlement from the Attorney General’s Office website.

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery and 20 attorneys general from across the country are asking President Joe Biden to withdraw his administration’s COVID-19 mandate for all federal contractors. Pursuant to Biden’s September executive order requiring federal departments to contractually require contractors and subcontractors to adopt COVID-19 safety protocols, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force in September issued a vaccination mandate, which Slatery called “simply not workable.” Read more from the AG’s website.  

Results from the July 2021 Uniform Bar Examination in Tennessee are now available. Almost 350 candidates successfully passed the exam.

Samuel Earl Rich, the son of Bedford County General Sessions Court Judge Charles L. Rich, has been charged with first-degree murder, the Tennessean reports. In addition to the murder charge, a Davidson County Grand Jury also indicted Rich on especially aggravated robbery, possession of a weapon as a felon, and one count of theft. Rich is alleged to have killed James William Warner, the nephew of Rep. Todd Warner, R-Chapel Hill, in August. At the time of the indictment, Rich was in the Bedford County Jail on an attempted homicide charge. Officials there say Rich shot Warner's girlfriend in Shelbyville also around the same time in August.

Davidson County lawyer David Dwayne Harris was temporarily suspended from the practice of law yesterday. The Tennessee Supreme Court took the action after finding that Harris failed to respond to the Board of Professional Responsibility regarding a complaint. The suspension will remain in effect until dissolution or modification by the court.

Just City Memphis is hosting a reception and art show tomorrow night to feature the work of Mark Loughney, who is currently incarcerated and uses art to humanize his fellow prisoners. The event, “Pyrrhic Defeat: A Visual Study of Mass Incarceration,” will take place at The Commonwealth, 240 Madison Ave., Memphis 38103 from 5-8 p.m. CDT. The show is part of a nearly 700-piece project Loughney started in 2014. See more of his work at @loughneyart on Instagram. The event is free and open to the public. Proof of vaccination is required and masks are required indoors. Pre-register here.

Lynne Ingram, a former counsel with the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee & the Cumberlands and a former assistant U.S. attorney, has announced her intentions to challenge Davidson County Circuit Court Judge Kelvin Jones for his seat in the 2022 Democratic primary. A 2003 graduate of Western Michigan University’s Cooley Law School, Ingram worked in the U.S. Attorney’s offices in Phoenix and Nashville before a stint in private practice and a year with Legal Aid. She joined the firm of Robinson, Reagan & Young this month, the Nashville Post reports.

Tennessee House of Representatives Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, has made committee assignments for the this week’s special session — the third special session of the year. The Senate is sticking with its regular committees. The Tennessee Journal has the assignments.

The Tennessee Bureau of Workers’ Compensation recently announced three finalists for its Third Annual Sue Ann Head Award for Excellence in Workers’ Compensation. They are: Workers’ Compensation Claims Team Lead Deborah K. Powell, Risk Management Director Joyce “Joy” Baker, and RN Field Case Manager Jody Barnes. The award, which recognizes quality of service and impact on the state’s workers’ compensation system, is named for Sue Ann Head, who led the Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Division for over 30 years. The winner will be announced during next week’s 24th Workers’ Compensation Education Conference.

Three years after the Tennessee State Museum opened in its new location on the corner of Rosa L. Parks Boulevard and Jefferson Street in downtown Nashville, the building has been named the Bill Haslam Center. A ceremony honoring the former governor for his contributions to the preservation of state history and expansion of the museum in 2018 took place yesterday. The museum was created by the General Assembly in 1937 to consolidate various collections. It was first located in the lower level of the War Memorial Building and then moved to the James K. Polk Center. Read more about the event from Gov. Bill Lee's office.